


A Good Investment

by WritLarge



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Gen, POV Varric Tethras, Treat, Varric Tethras is a Good Friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 05:11:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16401932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritLarge/pseuds/WritLarge
Summary: Varric poured himself a stiff drink. He tended to keep to himself most of the time. Trust was a scarce commodity in his family. So, when he’d fallen in with Hawke’s band of thrown together adventurers he hadn’t expected to get attached to them. Shit, he was getting soft.





	A Good Investment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tuesday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuesday/gifts).



He’d given her a ball of twine.

Twine, for Maker’s sake.

Varric poured himself a stiff drink. He tended to keep to himself most of the time. Trust was a scarce commodity in his family. So, when he’d fallen in with Hawke’s band of thrown together adventurers he hadn’t expected to get attached to them. Shit, he was getting soft.

You’d have to be a cold bastard not to soften for Daisy, though. He hadn’t expected a blood mage to be so damned naive and sweet – directionally challenged too evidently. Finding Daisy in Darktown had been dumb luck. There weren’t many places worse than the rusty metal spike district, but the pit of despair that was Darktown managed to make it look almost classy. If his Carta contact hadn’t insisted on meeting there, he’d never have set foot in the place. 

Once he’d found her though, it was clear this wasn’t her first time getting lost. Leading her home safely, Varric hadn’t been able to come up with anything better than handing her a ball of twine to follow whenever she went out. 

Until now.

The knock on the door was right on schedule.

“Am I interrupting?” Margarethe asked, already crossing the threshold. She wasn’t much older than Varric but her family had been on the surface longer and she had just the connections he needed at the moment.

“No, no, come in. I was getting lonely here with all my... paperwork,” he waved a hand at the pile on the table.

Margarethe settled herself in a chair. Varric grabbed another tumbler and poured for them both.

“We could have had this meeting in the Guildhall. There’s a chair there that has your name on it.” There quite literally was, Varric knew. But he didn’t have much interest in the family seat. 

“And risk my reputation by doing something respectable?” That made her scowl.

“Varric-”

“Listen, can we just cut the political posturing and get to business?” This was why he avoided the meetings. Maker, he hated dealing with the Merchants’ Guild.

“All right,” she said, leaving her drink untouched. “What is it you want?”

“I have a friend who lives in the Alienage-”

“An elf?”

“No, a Qunari,” he snapped at the interruption. “Of course, she’s an elf. Merrill is Dalish originally, so she isn’t the savviest streetwise and I want to ensure she doesn’t become a target.”

“You want me to negotiate with our gang contacts to make sure she’s left alone? She must be a particularly interesting elf.” 

Oh no, he wasn’t having any of these nug-lickers nosing around after his friends. Varric couldn’t personally have every gang member in Kirkwall dealt with, but he could try and put the fear of Hawke into people who had more to lose.

“I assure you, anyone taking an interest in her will find themselves of interest to people they’d really rather not attract.”

“Is that so? Well, in the interest of civic order, I’m sure we can agree upon a reasonable rate.” 

“Exactly.” And now for the tricky part. The connected gangs weren’t the only people lurking in the shadows of Lowtown. “What about intervention?”

“Intervention?” Margarethe paused in the process of pulling out a draft contract.

“You have feet on the ground around the clock and my friend travels at... odd hours.” 

“In the middle of the night?” 

“Unfortunately,” he sighed. Daisy was difficult to persuade when it came to her safety. Maker knows, they’d all tried.

“And you want my associates to guard her for you?” she said with a smirk. Shit. “It’ll cost extra.”

“No discounts for an old friend?”

Margarethe laughed, “Coin or service in trade, Varric.” It was worth a shot.

“Coin, then,” he agreed, having no desire to owe any more favours than he already did.

They hashed out the finer details in less than half an hour, signing off on the contract before Margarethe departed to file it with the Guild. Varric was finally able to sink into his chair and enjoy the solitude. Daisy would be fine. Though this business had lightened his purse more than the deal he’d made with the Carta to leave Anders alone.

Varric had known that falling in with Hawke would be an experience. Peril, he’d been prepared for. What he hadn’t expected was to make friends that would be so damned expensive.

He glanced over to where Bianca lay, her stock gleaming in the firelight.

_Aren’t good friends worth a little investment?_

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m glad we met them too.”


End file.
